About the Journal

Serial title

A+BE | Architecture and the Built Environment

Aims and Scope

A+BE publishes exclusively doctoral theses (dissertations) in the field of:

  • architecture
  • architectural engineering
  • green building
  • built heritage
  • history
  • urbanism
  • urban and regional studies
  • real estate
  • housing
  • geomatics
  • geo-design
  • management of the built environment

Open Access Policy

A+BE is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license. You are free to use the work, but you have to attribute (refer to) the work in the manner specified by the author or licensor (but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work). The easiest way to refer to an article is to use the HOW TO CITE tool that you find alongside each article in the right sidebar.

Copyrights and publishing rights

A+BE allows the author(s) to hold the copyright without restrictions. A+BE allows the author(s) to retain publishing rights without restrictions.

Article-processing charges (APC)

Publishing in ABE is entirely free, so neither Submission Charges nor Article Processing Charges are required from the authors. The institutions and/or funders cover the resources needed to run the journal and produce the PhD thesis from the TU Delft Graduate School of Architecture and the Built Environment.

Research Data 

TU Delft OPEN Publishing strongly supports that the data underlying the journals are archived in a recognised research data repository in line with the TU Delft Research Data Framework Policy and will support data citation. Please visit this page for more information on policies.

Research Software

TU Delft OPEN Publishing strongly encourages the adoption of the TU Delft Research Software Policy. This policy facilitates best practices on management and sharing of research software and facilitates proper recognition of the contribution of TU Delft researchers to software.

Publication ethics

Editors, authors, and publisher adopt the guidelines developed by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and the fair data principles. The journal adheres to the COPE Core Practices and the principles of transparency described in the Declaration on transparent editorial policies for academic journals.

Code of Conduct

Check TU Delft OPEN Publishing code of conduct and integrity policy.

Similarity Check

A similarity check is part of the TU Delft OPEN Publishing standard publication procedure. Authors submitting their article to the A+BE should expect their work to go through a similarity analysis at any workflow stage. All articles submitted are checked with iThenticate software. The editor and publisher carefully analyse the reports. In case of suspected plagiarism, the authors will have two weeks to explain.

The journal also checks for AI-generated content. Articles will only be accepted if using AI-generated tools is part of the work.

Use of AI

The use of AI technologies in writing is gaining popularity. When used responsibly and appropriately in the context of human-driven research, it can facilitate innovation. However, authors remain responsible and accountable for the quality and content of their manuscripts, and these responsibilities remain uniquely human. With this in mind, the publisher asks that the authors not list AI as a co-author and disclose any use of AI tools (e.g., generative language-based, such as ChatGPT and others, for generating images, etc.) in the writing of their manuscripts. If applicable, acknowledge how you use AI tools for your article at the bottom of the References section and in the Acknowledgements section. Additionally, please specify the use of AI tools in the cover letter submitted before the peer review process. This policy is subject to review based on new developments.

Complaints

Complaints such as misconduct, authorship dispute or suspected conflict of interest should be brought to the attention of the publisher (publishing-lib@tudelft.nl) or the editorial board.

Author appeal

If an author wishes to appeal an editorial decision, the author may contact the journal's Editors-in-Chief. Their appeal decisions are final. This means that discussing or negotiating the final decision will be without effect and can be ignored.  

Conflict of interest

All COIs will be handled as follows by the journal in the first instance, then the publisher:

  • Disclosure: Anyone (editors, reviewers, authors and any other relevant parties) involved in the publishing process should disclose any potential conflicts of interest they may have
  • Evaluation: After disclosing the potential COI, it needs to be examined to determine its importance and possible impact on the publication process.
  • Management: An identified COI requires appropriate steps. Those steps may include stepping back from specific duties or decisions, removal from the publication process, or taking other actions to reduce the conflict.
  • Transparency: Any identified conflicts of interest should be transparently disclosed to relevant parties, including readers, authors, and reviewers.
  • COI can be mentioned after the section Acknowledgment of the publication.

Publication notices and changes

Any changes to the published content will be accompanied by a post-publication notice that will be permanently linked to the original content.

Publication notices include errors introduced by the journal (erratum), an author error (corrigendum), adding a (small) document to a published work to provide additional information (addendum), and retraction.

The Editors-in-Chief and the publisher handle publication notices through the following steps:

  • Review the proposed changes to the published content to determine if they are necessary and appropriate.
  • Preparing a post-publication notice that accurately reflects the changes made to the content.
  • Linking the post-publication notice to the original content clearly and prominently.
  • Distributing the updated content and the post-publication notice to relevant parties, including subscribers, indexers, and other databases.
  • Monitoring the impact of the changes on the academic record and making any necessary further updates or corrections.

Authorship

All co-authors must agree to submit the work to the journal. For authors’ disputes, see the “Complaints and Appeals” section.

How to add extra authors before publication:

  • All co-authors must agree to add new (co)authors to the publication.
  • Agreement must be collected and sent to the editor with an explanation.

Guest Editors/Special Issues

A+BE requires an agreement between the Guest Editor(s) and the Editors-in-Chief where the Guest Editor(s)’s role is clearly defined. Guest Editors are subject to the same rules as journal editors and adhere to TU Delft OPEN Publishing policies.

Archiving 

Authors can archive the pre-print and post-print versions of the work they have submitted to A+BE, including the pdf version of the article (the so-called publisher's version) that is available on this website. Authors are explicitly free to copy and redistribute the work they have submitted in any medium or format and to remix, transform, and build upon the work they have submitted to A+BE for any purpose.

Metadata

A+BE grants you the right to publish the metadata of the series, it's issues and articles under the terms of the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0).

Plagiarism

We require that the Ph.D. thesis is checked for plagiarism, as part of the procedures of the institute.

Publication frequency

A+BE is at least published over 12 times a year.

Review Process

We require that a doctoral evaluation committee at the respective university reviewed the thesis that is the basis of the book published in the A+BE series. The author must provide the doctoral regulations of the university, and the public announcement of the Ph.D. defense as proof that the work is reviewed.

Indexing

A+BE with ISSN  2214-7233 is indexed by the Avery Index to Architectural Periodicals, the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ), Directory of Open Access scholarly Resources (ROAD), Scopus, Sherpa Romeo, The Keepers, Google Scholar, WorldCat, ZDB, WIKIDATA, Sudoc and fatcat.

Disclaimer

The opinions expressed in our published content are those of the author(s) and do not reflect the views of TU Delft OPEN Publishing.  

The responsibility for the content provided is exclusively of the author(s) concerned. TU Delft OPEN Publishing, A+BE , the editors and reviewers are not responsible for errors in the contents or any consequences arising from the use of the information.

The opinions expressed in the publications of  A+BE do not necessarily represent the views of TU Delft OPEN Publishing and the editors.  

We follow an Open Access publishing principle, in which the author(s) are the sole owners of the copyright of the content published. The author(s) of the concerned article are responsible for any omissions or copyright violations. Our responsibility is to remove the concerned article from the journal once the query is raised.

ISSN

2212-3202 print

2214-7233 online

Publisher

TU Delft OPEN Publishing